RAY2K - Ray's Top Ten Albums of 1999

Ray "Nice Shirt" Burnz...sailing the seven seas in search of good albums...so you don't have to!

RAY2K!!!
aka
Ray's Top 10 (or so) Albums of 1999*

	1	There is NO number 1 this year (I'm not sure this is because I was indecisive (it's so unlike me) or because there wasn't an album comparable to last year's number 1 (see "Ray's Damn Top Ten List of 1998"))
Tom Waits "Mule Variations" Gravel and grit Delta Blues accompanied by some surprising sentimentality ("Picture In A Frame" and "Take It With Me") with a dose of paranoia ("What's He Building?")	2 (tie)
	2 (tie)	Richard Thompson "Mock Tudor" Richard Thompson succeeds where, I think, Pete Townsend failed. Pete had the potential to be a great guitarist/singer/songwriter but somehow fell short. Richard Thompson is everything that Pete Townsend isn't: poet/master storyteller/showman and fantastic guitarist. I don't know who is the better guitarist, but I do know that RT is a better all around musician/songwriter. While not his best, "Mock Tudor" is a good album. I like "Crawl Back (Under My Stone)" and "Cooksferry Queen". You'll get no "PsychoDerelict" out of Richard Thompson...
David Sylvian "Dead Bees On A Cake" I had to rank this at least No. 4 or Chris wouldn't have let me publish my list (Editor's Note: Damn straight!!!). Good album. As a non-Sylvianite, I find DBOAC more accessible than some of his earlier work (perhaps that's because I got this album for free). "I Surrender" is a good song, but I think my favorites are "Darkest Dreaming" and "Wunderlust". "Darkest Dreaming" defines the Sylvian sound for me...	3
	4	David Bowie "hours..." I actually liked this album more than I thought I would have. I didn't like "The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell" as a single, but it fits nicely into the context of the album. "Survive" or "Seven" would have been a better single. The album is a tad overproduced and could have benefited from a good editor. "Thursday's Child" and "Something in the Air" are good songs but would have been better in the 3:30 to 4:00 minute range instead of over 5:00
Sheryl Crow "The Globe Sessions" While a can't say that I'm a Sheryl Crow fan (because I've got this terrible wart on my tongue), this album is pretty good. "Anything But Down" is a nice pop song. A decent version of Bob Dylan's "Mississippi" and "Crash and Burn (work in progress)" are some of the better tunes on the album	5 (tie)
	5 (tie)	Pretenders "Viva El Amor!" I like "Human". "Popstar", I'm not so wild about. Chrissie seems to still be going strong after all these years. Jeff Beck adds some hot licks on the album
Santana "Supernatural" I liked "Put Your Lights On" when I first heard it. After the 4,372nd playing I got a little tired of it. This is Santana's best album since he had that guy with the crooked teeth in the early 1980's. "Smooth" is a very good song, but unless one likes a lot of Mexican/Spanish type tunes, this album isn't for everyone. Carlos does throw in a couple of classic licks reminiscent of his "Black Magic Woman" days	6
	7	Robbie Williams "The Ego Has Landed" Included to piss Jim off...
Ben Fold Five "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner" At this point, I'm stretching. I like "Army" as a single, but the album could have been better. Perhaps I was offended for Perry by the song "Your Redneck Past" (Perry, I hope you appreciate the gratuitous insult. If not, meet me in Fist City and we can discuss). "Don't Change Your Plans" is a nice tune, but the rest of the album is mediocre at best	8
	9	Ibrahim Ferrer "Buena Vista Social Club Presents..." What do you get when you cross Ry Cooder with Fidel Castro? Ferrer is a 70 year old Cuban singer. A nice change of pace
Sixpence None The Richer "Sixpence None The Richer" Good sweet pop	10

Didn't Make The Cut:

	Peter Gabriel "Up" I couldn't find a copy of it anywhere!!! That's a joke...Where is it PG?
Sting "Brand New Day" The man is named for an action a bee for crying out loud. Never trust an album with the lyrics "Don't Wanna Be No Fuddy Duddy". Say no more...
	Ani DiFranco "Up Up Up Up Up Up" Fiona Apple "When The Pawn..." I accidentally put these two CDs in each other's case and during subsequent playings didn't realize it until I tried to follow the lyrics...I don't know if either of these are a poor woman's Tori Amos or what...(Why didn't Ani (or was that Fiona?) add another "Up" and call the album the uncola?)...
Squeeze "Domino" If it ain't got Gilson Lavis, it's just a Difford & Tilbrook album and this ain't in the class with their first "solo" album!
	Counting Crows "This Desert Life" Buy their first album and fulfill your lifetime obligation to own any Counting Crows!

* NOTE: Sure, they're the top albums of 1999 not 2000, but can you blame me for wanting to use "RAY2K"?!? It's Gold! Not to mention, if these discs don't crash your system...nuthin' will!!!

The End? Not As Long As Ray Has a CD Player...

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